The vetch will not release its N until it decays... but since it produces most of its own, neither will it steal much N from the corn. Given how rampant it is, the same may not be true of other nutrients... and it is very water-hungry. Of greater consideration may be the fact that vetch can easily become an obnoxious weed. I would never let it seed in a plot used for vegetables. Sunnfarm's idea of late-planting has merit, since the vetch could be plowed under before it seeds, and would restore some of the N depleted by the corn. I guess my question is... why vetch??? Why not something which not only improves the soil, but is edible? Pole beans were planted with corn by the Native Americans, as part of the "three sisters" method. Granted, that was using tall, sturdy field corn, not the shorter sweet corn grown by most gardeners. Tall pole beans would over-power most sweet corn. However, weaker climbers such as "half runners" & some of the "cornfield" bean varieties should do well. I have grown several semi-pole beans that might do well for that purpose. Cowpeas (a.k.a. Southern peas, or field peas) have also been successfully grown with corn by several GW members. Again, you would want to use some of the less rampant varieties.

kimmser/peter- Thanks for the interest and info. I recently had a soil test done (my first one) and everything was in the high range EXCEPT Potassium. However, for whatever reason, my soil test results did not include the amount of nitrogen. I notice on the soil report that nitrate nitrogen is listed but there is no info about it in the results column. I was thinking that NITRATE nitrogen would be something that applied to synthetic fertilizers moreso than organic... but I really don't know. So, I don't know how much nitrogen is already there. Do I need to find out? How do I find out (soil test is done by Clemson University). The only other unknowns are sulfer & percentage of organic matter because apparently they require separate tests. The PH is 5.9 with a buffer ph of 7.75 and Clemson does not recommend liming at this level (although it is borderline). This test was taken prior to putting in my garden (first one this plot) and I added black kow, blood meal(5lbs/100sqft), greensand 10 lbs/100sqft)and rock phosphate 10 lbs/100sqft)at levels designed to bring a medium or low reading up to high. So, I'm thinking that because my garden was so BAD this go round that all of these additional ammendments are still there. So, don't really think an additional soil test is necessary but I'm probably going to get one anyone more or less out of curiousity. Kimmser- I did the settling out test and mostly what I have is sand. Very little organic matter and clay. Thus the reason for trying hairy vetch. I'm also guessing that there is little bacterial activity because of the lack of organic matter (thus the reason for thinking most of the "blood meal" is still there. Drains well, smells fine, no earthworms. Yeah, it needs some work, I'm starting to understand why. Peter- Interesting on the addition of rye to suppress the weeds. I take it the hairy vetch is slow to cover, I thought it would do ok on it's own. Based on what I've said above, would you agree that a nitrogen source is probably not necesary. 4 years for a soil test seems reasonable to me. Sure would like to get to where I don't need them at all to understand how my soils doing. Another apparent misconception on my part is that I'm going to be able to plant my spring garden in the plot that I plant the hairy vetch in now (winter cover crop). I was thinking I'd till it in a few weeks before last frost and everything would be better for my spring/summer garden. What I'm hearing you say is I probably need to wait. Trying to come up with a plan that I can rotate out spring/summer & fall/winter cover crops with spring/summer and fall/winter gardens. Attempting to figure how many separate plots I need to take things in and out of rotation so that I can get the organic matter in while also cutting down on disease because I rotate. What's the worse case scenario if I don't include the cereal rye with the vetch? So the cereal rye actually kills weed/vegetable seeds? Certainly didn't know that. I thought it was just weed suppression because it grew fast and got ahead of all the weeds thus shading them out and or choking them or something. Is the weed seed killer nature specific to cereal rye or is it particular of all the ryes? What about mixing in some sort of clover vs the rye? My brains spinning already when it comes to scheduling. Thanks for reminding me about the innoculant. Keep forgetting about it. Sounds like it's pretty important. Is there any info out there about how an innoculant could potentially be bad for your soil? It's not introducing something to it that hasn't been there in the past? Thanks all!

Its not going to multiply them, or make them extend their range. Plus, they already know where your garden is so about the only problem is that they might eat most of it and kill it off. A bottom growing plant like winter rye might do better with the grazing pressure. We have nearly tame deer here, in the yard every day like clock work, Fawns sleep under the tree etc. but simple loose fencing keeps them away from the vegetables. I put in a couple of tomato plants at the edge of the yard and they have slowly nibbled them to stumps over the season, but left exposed plants closer to the house alone. This is a switch from previous years so I'll probably keep doing it.

As far as I can tell, hairy vetch and alfalfa are not the same plant. If you want alfalfa (Medicago sativa), it is quite widely available as seeds for sprouting, and as green manure. T&M do stock it, as do Suffolk Herbs. It's probably better value to buy it as green manure though. Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) seems to be more difficult to track down